0 A Distinct Buzzing...

"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how."
- Friedrich Nietzche

It's funny to think of the fact that everything that has ever been synonyms with fly has been annoying. Flies are these insects that buzz around the back of your head, filling your ears with their nonsense. It makes sense that a gadfly would be someone who spent their time buzzing around, filling others with questions they don't even want answered.

And as all insects and everything else in the world, the gadfly has evolved into what we know as the modern fly.

Modern day slavery gadflies are in a higher abundance and are just as written off as they once were. They are dismissed and lumped together with the conspiracy theorists and the other insanes out there that we love to ignore. They are everywhere you look and while their presumed credibility issn't great, they are gaining attention in the various forms of the media.

I'm talking about us, the bloggers of the internet. Who better else to ask their questions, tell others how to live their lives, and more? Who else criticizes other in the name of "bettering the world"? Who else yells at us every day to go against all we know, to drop everything you believe in and pelisse in something else? And who, really, is more irritating in the world?

The bloggers of the internet are constantly locked in a war between themselves and what they believe is everyone else but is also themselves. Governments constantly try to shut them down and shut them up for their blasphemous words and thoughts.

But try as some might, you can't censor the Internet. Bloggers will continue on, flitting here and there, and others will try to swat them. It's the way of the world, you see.

0 It's the Issue of Diluted Lemonade...

"But I say: 'Why invite stress in?' Stop studying strife and learn to live 'the unexamined life'."
- "Dancing through Life" from Wicked: The Musical

I won't segue in this time with a long winded introduction, with the history of philosophy and human questions and life styles and quotes and general rambling and the like. Not this time, I just won't do that. For once I'll be getting straight to the point. Which may or may not happen again. I wouldn't count on it.

[/not so hidden introduction and stalling]

I'm not one to say whether or not your life is worth living. I don't think that is my place, or the one of anyone else for that matter. How you want to life your life is your business. If you want to live ignorant, then that is your choice. There are quite a few reasons to live an ignorant life and they are all valid. It is inherently more blissful. For me, it's just that an examined life is one of much better quality that I'd absolutely choose the examined life over bliss.

With a life without questions, the world is stagnant. Questions lead to change, which may be why one would prefer a life without them. I get it: change can be scary. Really scary. Change is this unknowable variable that can be negative or positive. It's incredibly unstable and can be quite unblissful.

Questions can lead to knowledge and as much as we want to, you can't unknow something once you know.   They can lead to terrible, dangerous, powerful things that you have no business knowing and won't even have the option to reverse. Asking questions can be a worse gamble than playing the lottery.

And for some reason, I think that's what makes it all worth it. The fact that you may not like the answer you get makes the knowledge all the more valuable. You're not guaranteed to like all of the answers in life. But  still, I'd like to hear them.

The answers can be terrifying, complicated, and down right scary but the clarity and satisfaction that I receive when a question of mine is answered surpasses that fear. One can get so much more out of life when they squeeze every drop out with a question mark. Questions lead to the aforementioned change and change can be as good as it can be bad. The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

There is nothing wrong with knowing. No one should be judged for being "enlightened". That's not how it works. On the other hand, you should not be judged for not knowing. It doesn't work that way either. It's a slippery slope, either side, and not everyone has the equipment to scale the sides. You cannot penalize a person for that.

It's just up to you if you want watered down lemonade or a pitcher of vodka. I don't imagine either one being very pleasant. But I'll take the pitcher, thank you very much.

5 Dearly Beloved, We Have Gathered Here...

"Funerals are for the living."
- John Green, The Fault in our Stars

Once, in her biology class, the teacher started the year by telling the students that someone was going to say "orgasm" instead of "organism", just as someone did every year. The students did not believe her. Sydney did not believe her. Needless to say (for you may have heard it from someone else), Sydney was the one to say it during a presentation on genetically altered food. Also needless to be said (but will be said regardless), she had yet to live it down, nor did she expect to. She took it in stride, tried to forget about it, and avoided the subject of biology like the plague. It didn't really work out for her.

But that's how most things went. At least for Sydney. But she joined in on the laughter because really, the situation was funny.

If something had to be said about her, it had to be that while she was not nice, she was not cruel. While she was not selfish, she chose herself when it mattered to her. She was more full of questions than answers. She did not handle failure well, yet she was accustomed to it. She preferred anonymity but was too loose-lipped for it. She rambled on and on and had ideas for miles.

She blogged incredibly too much.

No. Seriously. Incredibly too much.

Rather than believe that everyone is beautiful (because beauty is subjective and crap), she believed that no one has the right to make you feel ugly. She believed that we were mere mortals foolishly trying to understand a language not meant for our ears or lips. She believed in many infinities and not caring because there's a long run. She believed in reading for fun and discussing with people you don't know and the importance of moments to yourself and playing video games even though you're bad at them.

She was attached to her laptop and her iPod and lived an only child kind of life. Which may be why she tried so hard when it came to her friends.

And tried she did. She tried and tried and tried and if she succeeded with her friends and with the ones she cared about, then it was all worth.

As long as she did that, as long as she questioned people and gave them something to think about and filled in the empty spaces of silence, as long as she wrote and imagined and thought her thoughts for herself, she'd die happy.

Not quite sure who is to say she did.